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I hate benching, power squatting, deadlifting, pressing, curls, calf raises, dumbbells, cables, and so on. Here's what I did to fix that....I didn't do them. I always thought that a traditional fullbody workout (one that has the basic six movements along with single joint calf and arm work) put way too much emphasis on the upper body and the legs were left slightly neglected in comparison. Then it hit me, as far as compound lifts are concerned, pushing is pushing and pulling is pulling, no matter what the plane is, but since I threw most of the traditional core lifts in the trash what was I going to do? Then it hit me again, the quick lifts, and some bodyweight exercises. This is what I came up with.

A:

Power snatch
Full squat
Dips
Dead stop barbell rows

B:

Power clean
Front squat
Push press
Chin up

Now the next issue was frequency, volume, and loading. Frequency was easy, I just alternated workouts and hit the gym six days a week. Volume was influenced by guys like Ditillo and Hepburn. I decided on 10x3 for each exercise. Loading was a little Bulgarian, and a little Russian for the barbell exercises. I started at 2 sets of 50% of max and worked my way up to 90%, no maxing out!! Once I hit 90% for five plus reps I will go up roughly 10+%. The chins and dips are a different kettle of fish. I decided that once I am able to do 10x5 easily with my bodyweight, I will bring out the dipping belt and add 10-25 pounds depending on the sweet spot, or I'll start doing sternum chins. I'm having a blast and lost 20 pounds of lard, and I'm feeling the best I have in years. So if anyone else is going through a funk, remember there's more then one way to skin a cat.

that whole story is totally awesome, and the program looks good. not sure i agree that "pushing is pushing and pulling is pulling, regardless of the plane" though. a bicep curl is a pull and so is a deadlift. big difference.
but yeah, the routine you came up with looks like a great way to take a break from the usual, and if it works, it works, no matter what anyone says. i like the way you used your own powers of reasoning + experience to develop something that works for you.

that whole story is totally awesome, and the program looks good. not sure i agree that "pushing is pushing and pulling is pulling, regardless of the plane" though. a bicep curl is a pull and so is a deadlift. big difference.
but yeah, the routine you came up with looks like a great way to take a break from the usual, and if it works, it works, no matter what anyone says. i like the way you used your own powers of reasoning + experience to develop something that works for you.

Thank you. What I meant in regards to the "pushing is pushing" statement is from a compound lift perspective. Most fullbody workouts have the horizontal and vertical pushing and pulling during the same session. I chose to have them on different days, so that my upper and lower body pushing and pulling are balanced.

but the problem we encountered was with squat and deadlift: there's no practical way to reverse those movements. i thought a great idea would be if there were some way to strap your feet to the ground, stand under a wide-grip overhead cable row machine, and pull the bar down using your posterior chain so that you end in the bottom position of a squat (reverse squat). it's sort of like an upright deadlift!
for reverse deadlift, it's a similar movement except you begin with the bar in front of you and at your waist with your elbows locked. instead of your lower back + glutes, you'll actually use your abs and hip flexors to initiate the movement.
but again, there's no practical way to do these last 2 exercises, and they'd probably be more trouble than they're worth. they are, though, the correct reversal of the movement, just like the more legit exercises above.

Actually, SO, I've seen people do bench and squats with bands pulling the bar upwards, as a way of engraining good form on the decent of those two lifts. But I'd say if there's an opposing movement to squats it would be effectively the GHR or reverse hypers.

I hate benching, power squatting, deadlifting, pressing, curls, calf raises, dumbbells, cables, and so on. Here's what I did to fix that....I didn't do them. I always thought that a traditional fullbody workout (one that has the basic six movements along with single joint calf and arm work) put way too much emphasis on the upper body and the legs were left slightly neglected in comparison. Then it hit me, as far as compound lifts are concerned, pushing is pushing and pulling is pulling, no matter what the plane is, but since I threw most of the traditional core lifts in the trash what was I going to do? Then it hit me again, the quick lifts, and some bodyweight exercises. This is what I came up with.

A:

Power snatch
Full squat
Dips
Dead stop barbell rows

B:

Power clean
Front squat
Push press
Chin up

Now the next issue was frequency, volume, and loading. Frequency was easy, I just alternated workouts and hit the gym six days a week. Volume was influenced by guys like Ditillo and Hepburn. I decided on 10x3 for each exercise. Loading was a little Bulgarian, and a little Russian for the barbell exercises. I started at 2 sets of 50% of max and worked my way up to 90%, no maxing out!! Once I hit 90% for five plus reps I will go up roughly 10+%. The chins and dips are a different kettle of fish. I decided that once I am able to do 10x5 easily with my bodyweight, I will bring out the dipping belt and add 10-25 pounds depending on the sweet spot, or I'll start doing sternum chins. I'm having a blast and lost 20 pounds of lard, and I'm feeling the best I have in years. So if anyone else is going through a funk, remember there's more then one way to skin a cat.

I love everything about this program and setup. Ive been doing things very similair and for the same reason every now and then to keep things fresh.